Chester Bloom was born and raised in Canada.  When he was 14, he and his family moved to Virginia after his father became a reporter for The Washington News Bureau.  He studied art with The Arts Student League of New York and served in World War II.  He began his career doing illustrations for crime magazines but he is best known for the covers he did for sports-themed pulp magazines.  He retired from commercial illustration in 1950 and spent the rest of his career as a portrait painter.